1 Introduction

Yext, a company providing entreprise search solutions based on Natural Language Processing and AI, publish anonymized data on their Search Data Hub. These data are samples of listing and local page data across a variety of search engines, and other digital endpoints collected by Yext from their clients. They allow for exploring insights on consumer behavior trends — including shifts in search volume and foot traffic trends by industry.

We analyzed these data for the Legal Services industry. What can we learn from Yext Search Data Hub that is relevant for personal injury lawyers? We present here our key findings.

2 Methodology

Yext kindly provided us with a subset of the data from the Search Data Hub: data about Legal Services (subvertical) coming from U.S. companies. We enriched these data with some key spot comparisons observed directly on the online Search Data Hub.

2.1 About the Data

Yext mentions that “the data is comprised of a sample of listing and local page data across a variety of search engines, and other digital endpoints. Insights are shown only on a region and industry level where there are sufficient businesses, locations, and search engine data sources to maintain anonymity and privacy for Yext customers and where Yext customers have adopted the platform for a sufficient period of time to provide a meaningful comparison year over year. As data may vary between regions due to, among other things, the sample size or availability of data for certain businesses and subverticals, industry insights may not be comparable across regions.”
The data published by Yext, and presented in this analysis, are better compared over time. However, as the metrics are averages over a sample, we can still compare the absolute values of the legal services to the values of the rest of the industry.

Sample sizes:

  • Sample Size for the “subvertical” of Legal Services in the U.S.: 5,409 businesses including 7,249 entities.
  • Sample Size for the whole U.S., all the industries (all subverticals): 73,909 businesses including 545,974 entities.

3 Research Findings

3.1 Extended Network Impressions and Clicks

The impressions represent the number of times a sample of listings appeared in search results across Google Maps, Google Search, Bing, Facebook, and the broader network. And the clicks, the number of times they were clicked.

There is a sudden increase in the Average Extended Network Clicks since summer 2021.

Visually, there does not seem to be a large correlation between the impressions and the clicks. This is reflected in the Pearson correlation coefficient, which is \(r = 0.21\). This coefficient ranges from 0, there is no linear correlation, the clicks have no relations to impressions, to 1, there is a perfect correlation between impressions and clicks. There is a small correlation between the number of impressions and the clicks, meaning that the number of clicks is not completely independent of the number of impressions. However, this relation is very far from being perfect and an increase in the number of impressions is not necessarily, directly and completely reflected in the number of clicks.

3.1.1 Click-Through Rate

As Yext is sharing both impressions and clicks, we can compute the average Click-Through Rate (CTR): \(CTR = clicks / impressions\).

The average CTR in legal services for longtail keywords in the extended network (Google Maps, Google Search, Bing, Facebook, and the broader network) is of 2.62%.

3.1.2 Industry Comparison

We compare the Extended Network Impressions and Clicks from the legal services to the same metrics for all the industries. By doing so, we compare the performance of listings in the legal services to the global average.

When measured on the whole industry, there is a much larger correlation between the impressions and the clicks: the Pearson correlation coefficient is \(r = 0.82\). This means that fluctuations in the impressions are well reflected in the clicks, albeit not perfectly (perfectly would mean r = 1).

The Average Extended Network Impressions for Longtail Keywords for all industries together is 2.7 times larger than for legal services. The gap is even larger for the Clicks: it is 9.3 times larger for all industries together than for legal services. This suggests that, in this sample, legal services have generally less success in turning impressions into clicks. This is reflected in the CTR. The CTR of all industries together is on average of 8.76%, much higher than the average CTR for the legal services: 2.62%.

We can index the values measured for the legal services and the whole industry to the value of 100% on January 2019. By doing so, we can compare their trends more precisely and see if the values for the legal services follow the same fluctuations as the industry.

We can see that the Clicks in the legal services seem to follow the general trends well. This is reflected in the Pearson correlation coefficient: \(r = 0.57\). However, this is does not seem to be the case for the Impressions. The Impressions in the legal services do not follow the general trends well visually and there is no correlation: \(r = 0\). Could this be because the impressions do not depend from the general presence or behavior of users whereas the clicks do?

3.2 Google My Business

This chapter focuses on the Google ecosystem.

3.2.1 Impressions

The Average Google Maps Views Per Location represents the number of times the listing was viewed on a Google Map. The Average Google Search Views Per Location represents the number of times the listing was viewed on Google Search. Google Map Views and Google Search Views together represent the total number of impressions listings receive across the Google ecosystem.

The Average Google Maps Views Per Location decreased by 73.6% between February and April 2020, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and is slowly recovering.

The Average Google Search Views Per Location is growing steadily since mid-2020. It has never been so high.

We note the importance of a presence on Google Maps for companies active in legal services as the average number of maps views is larger than the average number of search views.

3.2.1.1 Industry Comparison

We compare the Google Maps and Search Views from the legal services to the same metrics for all the industries. By doing so, we compare the performance of listings in the legal services to the global average.

The trends in the legal services follow the trends of the global average of all industries very well. With one notable difference, the average of Google Maps Views and Google Search Views per location is much smaller than the global average. The average of Google Maps Views in the legal services is on average only 8.7% of the global average. The average of Google Search Views in the legal services is on average only 14.7% of the global average. Note the logarithmic scale on the y-axis. It is used because it allows for a better comparison of the trends despite the difference in magnitude.

3.2.2 Clicks

3.2.2.1 Google Phone Calls

The Average Google Phone Calls Per Location represents the number of times a user clicked on the phone call link from a Google listing. There was a clear dip of around -30% at the onset of the COVID pandemic. This metric has reached the maximum level again since.

3.2.2.1.1 Industry Comparison

On the contrary to the legal services, we do not see a gap at the onset of the COVID pandemic for the average of all industries. The Average Google Phone Calls Per Location for the legal services is only 16.6% of the global average.

3.2.2.2 Google Website Clicks

The Average Google Website Clicks Per Location represents the number of times a consumer clicked through to the corporate domain from a location page. It seems that there was a small dip at the onset of the COVID pandemic, but it is less clear.

3.2.2.2.1 Industry Comparison

The Average Google Website Clicks Per Location for the legal services is fluctuating similarly to the average of all industries. The Average Google Website Clicks Per Location for the legal services is only 10.9% of the global average.

3.2.2.3 Google Driving Directions

The Average Google Driving Directions Per Location represents the number of times a consumer clicked to get driving directions from the location pages. This metric was clearly affected by the COVID pandemic. It dropped by 80% between February and April 2020. It is slowly recovering, now reaching about 80% of the pre-pandemic level.

3.2.2.3.1 Industry Comparison

The Average Google Driving Directions Per Location for the legal services is behaving similarly to the average of all industries. The recovery after the onset of the pandemic is similar, albeit a bit slower. This might reflect the fact that legal services can more easily managed remotely than other industries. The Average Google Driving Directions Per Location for the legal services is only 7% of the global average.

4 Summary and Main Findings

4.1 The Impact of COVID

The COVID did not have an impact on all metrics shared by Yext. But it had a clear impact on Google Maps Views and Google Driving Directions; they dropped significantly (-75% and -80%). They almost reached their pre-pandemic level again, probably illustrating a near-total recovery of in-person business for legal services.

Did COVID have a lasting effect on some metrics? Google Search Views are increasing constantly since mid-2020. Regardless of if this effect is due to an increased online presence of clients due to COVID, it is a good time to optimize Google Search Clicks and take advantage of this fact.

4.3 Imperfect Correlation Between Impressions and Clicks

There is not a perfect correlation between the Average Extended Network Impressions and Average Extended Network Clicks for longtail keywords. We could expect that when impressions increase, clicks directly follow. This works quite well when looking at the average of the whole industry, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) is 0.82 (no correlation is 0 and perfect correlation is 1). Fluctuations in the impressions are well reflected in the clicks, albeit not perfectly.

However, this is not the case for the legal services, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) is only 0.21. It is unclear why fluctuations in the impressions are less well reflected in the clicks for legal services. It could be an artifact due to the smaller samples size, but Yext is publishing data about 5,409 businesses active in the legal services. That is a quite large sample already.